Have your say on This Is Sheffield plan

Wednesday 16 May 2018

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17 May 2018

Sheffielders are being urged to have their say on how the city centre is changing at the launch of a new consultation today.

The Sheffield City Centre Plan This Is Sheffield – which is intended to cover development in the city until 2028 – has been launched with Councillor Mazher Iqbal, cabinet member for business and investment, keen to hear from as many businesses, residents and others with an interest in the city as possible.

A survey can be filled in online from today until June 17 and there will be public exhibitions held in the Winter Garden, from Monday 21 May to Thursday 24 May and the Moor Market from Friday 25 May until Tuesday 29 May.

Following on from recent announcements about Heart Of The City II, the extension of Grey To Green into Castlegate and Lady’s Bridge and the development of a new £3m digital hub at Castle House, the city centre plan This Is Sheffield shines a light on the bigger picture of city centre development over the next 10 years.

It takes in plans by the city’s two universities, an initial sketch of how a new HS2 station link could help transform the Sheaf Valley, significant changes to transport including better walking, cycling and bus routes with a slimmed-down Pond Street interchange, ambitious plans to uncover the River Sheaf and a major archaeology dig on the site of Sheffield’s former castle.

It comes at an exciting time of opportunity when the future for economic, environmental and cultural progress rests more than ever on great cities which are authentic, diverse, resilient and fair, generating new ideas and more sustainable ways to live.

This plan sets out a new vision and ambitions for our great city centre over the next five to ten years.

It is a plan that shows how we think the layout and character of the centre and its distinct parts could and should develop, whilst building on what makes Sheffield unique such as its landscape, setting and heritage

It also contains an action plan which sets out priorities and choices about how the council intends to deliver these plans and who will be responsible.

An artist impression of how a HS2 station location could look

The vision recognises that a strong city centre is essential for a strong city and region, and Sheffield’s centre must reflect our authentic, can-do, creative, welcoming , outdoor city character which champions fairness and opportunity for all.

Councillor Mazher Iqbal, cabinet member for business and investment, said: “We want to continue creating fantastic workplaces whether it’s the new HSBC building , start-up spaces in Castle House and Exchange Studios or the award-winning Jaywing headquarters in the former Sidney Street cutlery forge.

”We want to expand the city’s business districts towards the HS2 station and knowledge gateway, and grow the six emerging living communities mainly on the western side of the city centre.

“We want to explore our heritage, history and ecology by uncovering our rivers and carrying out much-anticipated archaeological work.

“We are also confident that Heart Of The City II will give the people of Sheffield the high-end shopping, leisure and city centre living opportunities they deserve.

“We’ve also presented a vision for how a new HS2-station might look and how that might link to our other transport networks, helping to achieve our target of a zero carbon city by 2050.

“This plan offers a huge opportunity for Sheffielders to have that conversation – are they pleased with the progress that has been made? Is the city centre delivering what we hoped for and what lessons can we learn? What do people think of the new ideas? I am very much looking forward to those answers.”

The City Centre Plan is one of a family of plans to be launched by the City Council in 2018 setting out our physical strategies for the city as a whole.

They include the Transport Vision,the Green City sustainability strategy, the Housing Strategy and the statutory Local Plan.

The City Centre Plans (1996, 2000, 2008 and 2013, 2018) are non-statutory documents which have guided the regeneration of the city centre over the last 22 years, providing a broad narrative vision of the city centre but also setting out a delivery plan with timescales, funding and partners where known .

The new plan has been developed by Sheffield City Council through extended work with key stakeholders including the universities, the City Centre BID, Sheffield Property Association, Culture Consortium and the Castlegate Partnership.